Historically, computer instructions have taken the form of commands entered as words on a keyboard. More recently, pointing devices and icon-based interface techniques have been developed which permit a computer user to select tasks and to enter commands by moving a cursor on a computer display screen in response to movement of a pointing device. Pointing devices used for this task have included joysticks, trackballs and mouse controllers. One early use of a mouse was as a pointing device for an icon-based computer interface. More recently, the mouse has become well known as a computer input device used with various lines of computers and workstations. However, one drawback associate with the use of a conventional mouse is that the mouse requires a relatively large and flat 2-dimensional surface on which to move. Typically, this surface must be unobstructed, dedicated to mouse movement and measure over 9″×9″. Thus, conventional mice are limited to use on a surface for practical applications.
The need for a hand-held computer control device which has a long range and high resolution, free of flat surface or confined space constraints, and which responds to a vector defined by the controller, i.e., responds to “pointing” of the controller, as opposed to merely detecting the position of the controller was met by Quinn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,326, “Gyroscopic Pointer,” and Quinn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,421, “Gyroscopic Pointer and Method.” However, these gyroscopic pointers have a number of limitations. For example, the gyroscopic pointers require an associated computer to contain the data, programs and applications that a user desires to manipulate. Furthermore, each gyroscopic pointer requires the associated computer to have the pointer's computer control program downloaded thereon.
Accordingly, it is desirable to integrate a wireless hand-held inertial pointing device with a removable pod housing a transceiver and memory. With this integrated device, the user now has the ability to carry data and a computer control system as a single unit in the user's pocket or via belt clip.